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Long story short, Im a Real Estate Broker and on the Grievance board of our local assoc. tasked with enforcing the Code of ethics. I filed a complaint against a dude and his broker because he is employed at a local cash wholesaling co wherein he is paid a salary so he is a "representative" of them. They field calls from desperate sellers and Article one of the NAR COE is that you're always a Realtor and beholden to ethics. Well, They take advantage of said sellers and don't disclose their relationships with the buyer, they market the home for an egregious "assignment fee" instead of calling it a commission and in essence, IMO, they're stealing from he public. I presented the case thoroughly citing florida statute, agency definitions, definitions of "listings vs listing content" which NAR has already captured in a policy manual that you cant say its not a "listing" when it has all the same stuff of a listing... Anyways I threw the book at them and the local Professional standards group that listened clearly didn't understand what this group is doing. I literally had to explain the underbelly of the industry to them in the hearing. In the end, they found them not guilty and the public is going to get fucked here as this is now a blessing to screw the public and hide opaquely people's expertise, relationship to the buyer, amount of equity they're stealing from homeowners, etc. So I resigned from the Grievance committee and will spend more time with my family, brokerage and agents I can affect to do the right thing for the public but it was disheartening to see. I left in a Jerry Maguire kind of way informing the higher-ups that the PS committee got it wrong, why and how egregious it was. I told them I hoped that they could get involved and right the wrong but that I couldn't be a supporter of a group that flouts Florida State through not being smart enough to read it and understand it or that couldn't understand the horrible thing that the culprits are doing. I also don't want to spend more time on it to the detriment of my mental health or the time I spend with those that are important. I wish them the best but F em. They say one thing about how they care for the public but do nothing when the rubber meets the road due to greed.
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